Means for supporting coiled wire for dispensing



Aug. 2, 1966 J. G. WRIGHT ETAL MEANS FOR SUPPORTING COILED WIRE FOR DISPENSING Original Filed Jan. 29. 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l z'gi INVENTORS Jo/wv a. WRIGHT a may 5. SMITH Aug. 2, 1966 G. WRIGHT ETAL 3,263,940

MEANS FOR SUPPORTING COILED WIRE FOR DISPENSING Original Filed Jan. 29. 1.963

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS' JOHN G. WEIGHT 5 ROY 5. SMITH 47'7'0 IVY5 United States Patent 3,263,940 MEANS FOR SUPPORTING COILED WIRE FOR DISPENSING John G. Wright and Roy E. Smith, Atlanta, Ga., assignors to The Auto-Soler Company, a corporation of Georgia Original application Jan. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 255,155. Divided and this application Apr. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 448,434

6 Claims. (Cl. 242-103) The present application is a division of copending application Serial No. 255,155, filed January 29, 1963.

This invention relates to machines of the type in which wire is fed in a continuous length from a reel supply to have fasteners formed successively therefrom, and in which each of the successively formed fasteners is driven or inserted in material to be secured as a following phase of a cyclic fastener forming and inserting operation.

More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a machine of the foregoing type that incorporates a unique rearrangement of the basic structural and operating relations to provide for the formation and insertion of much longer and heavier fasteners than has heretofore been possible with such machines.

Thus, the machine of the present invention is capable of forming fasteners from 8 or 10 gauge wire in any length up to inches, which is equivalent to a forty-penny length, and may accordingly be employed to exceptional advantage for nailing heavy-duty structures such as skids or shipping pallets or truck platforms; for producing housing sub-components of all sorts; and for use otherwise in any instance where a long and substantial fastener is needed or desirable, as in the securing of plywood sheets in stacks for production sawing.

Briefly described, the machine is rearranged according to the present invention to deal with unusual problems encountered in handling the reel supply, which needs to have a size corresponding to a weight of about 200 pounds in order to allow a reasonable period of operation before replacement is needed.

The features of the present invention are described at further length below in relation to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a left-side perspective view of a fastener forming and inserting machine according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the center line of the wire reel structure for the fastener forming and inserting machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional View of the wire reel structure of FIG. 2, taken along line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the wire reel structure showing the elements disassembled for mounting of a coil of wire thereon.

In the illustrated embodiment, the basic arrangement comprises a frame structure, as indicated generally by the reference numeral 10, which is preferably formed to provide a laterally extended throat portion at 12 for accommodating work of considerable breadth in a manner comparable to that disclosed in US. Patent No. 3,023,412, issued March 6, 1962. Forwardly and at the lower side of this throat portion 12, a work supporting table 14 is arranged to carry work for insertion of fasteners upwardly therein against the clamping force of an overhead anvil 16, which is carried by the piston rod of a dougle acting cylinder and piston unit 18 that is operated in the manner of an air motor to force the anvil 16 downwardly for work clamping action during fastener insertion, while maintaining it retracted upwardly so as to clear the work at other times. The anvil 16 and associated cylinder and piston unit 18 are hung from a supporting bracket 20 at the top of the frame structure through a threaded shank 22 that is engaged by a handwheel 24 for adjusting the height of the anvil 12 above the work table 14 to suit the work being handled; the supporting bracket 20 being fitted with a binding screw at 26 that may be tightened for holding the threaded shank 22 at a selected adjustment.

The supply S of Wire W that is to be fed to the machine is arranged at one side thereof on a reel structure as indicated generally at in FIG. 1, and feeding of the wire W is accomplished by a feed mechanism that is located adjacently on the frame structure 10 as indicated generally at 200. The fastener forming knife mechanism, which receives the feed wire W, is arranged directly below the work table 14 as seen at 300, and the cyclic fastener forming and inserting operations are actuated by a drive system (not shown).

The reel structure 100, forming the supporting means for handling the considerable weight and size of the wire supply S that must be used in the machine of the present invention, is arranged on a dolly base 101 so that it may be moved away from'the machine for loading readily. A back side member 102 of this dolly base 100 projects sufliciently at each end (see FIG. 3) for positioning location within the reach of a fixed bracket 103 arranged toward the rear of the machine frame 10, and a forwardly arranged latch bracket 104 having a latch arm 104' pivoted thereon for displacement to release the reel structure 100 whenever it needs to be moved away for loading.

The dolly base 101 has a three-sided form so that it is open at the side opposite the back side member 102, and an upright supporting arm 105 is attached intermediate the length of the back side member 102 to carry a horizontal spindle 106 that extends toward the open dolly base side. The extending end of the spindle 106 is shouldered and threaded to receive a wing nut 107 for positioning and retaining a hub member 108 rotatably thereon. The hub member 108 is flanged externally at 108' to have a back shroud plate 109 assembled therewith in an extent sufiicient to provide sidewise support for the coiled wire supply S that must be accommodated. To carry the wire supply S at this back shroud plate 109, a spaced series of core pins 110 is fixed thereon concentrically about the hub member 108 and extending parallel with its axis. Suitable bracing as at 111 is preferably provided from the hub portion 108 to at least some of these core pins 110, and at least some of them, suitably every other one, are arranged at their extending ends to receive wing nuts 112 for positioning a front shroud plate 113 thereon to provide opposing sidewise support for the wire supply S. This front shroud plate 113 is apertured at 113' so that it may be placed freely on the core pins 110 and then tightened down by the wing nuts 112 to clamp the wire supply S against the back shroud plate 109 with suflicient firmness to prevent relative bodily shifting of the supply S during dispensing.

Such an arrangement deals in a particularly advantageous and practical way with a surprising tendency of the heavy wire coils involved here to shift during dispensing as a result of the continually repeated stopping forces that are applied in fol-lowing the intermittent feeding action needed to supply the cyclic fastener forming and inserting operations. The sudden pulling force that occurs each time the intermittent feed takes place can be dampened satisfactorily in the usual manner by providing a yieldable shock absorbing means, such as a spring biased pivot arm 114 carrying a suitable wear sleeve 115 through which the wire W may be trained for feeding, and which may be conveniently arranged on the dolly base 101 as illustrated. However, when the feed stops, a very stubstantial inertial force must be dealt with in stopping the motion of the wire supply S that was induced by the feed, and the stiff nature of the heavy wire W tends to direct the necessary stopping force toward shifting the wire supply S in the reel structure unless this tendency is opposed. If such shifting tendency is not adequately opposed, the result is a progressive backward movement of the wire supply S in the reel structure which fouls the inner windings of the supply in a very troublesome and objectionable way, but which is eliminated entirely when the supply S is clamped against relative bodily shifting as provided for by the reel structure 100 of the present invention.

Manipulation of the reel structure 100 for loading a new wire supply S therein is accomplished simply by removing the wing nuts 112 and taking the front shroud plate 113 off of the core pins 110 so that the new supply may be set in place over their extending ends. The front shroud plate 113 is then replaced and tightened do'wn adequately with the wing nuts 112. The arrangement of the dolly base 101 makes it possible to separate the reel structure 100 readily from the machine and move it to a wire storage area for such loading, rather than requiring the heavy wire coils to be brought to the machine for loading thereat under conditions that are almost certain to be unhandily clamped by production gear and work supplies.

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Means for supporting a supply of relatively heavy coiled wire for dispensing, said means comprising a first shroud plate for supporting said coiled Wire supply sidevvise, said shroud plate being fitted with a hub portion at which it may be mounted for rotation and having core means arranged thereon for supporting said wire supply concentrically about said hub portion, a second shroud plate for opposing sidewise support of said wire supply, and clamping means cooperating with said core means at a plurality of spaced locations for positioning said second shroud plate on said core means to provide said opposing sidewise support and for tightening said second shroud plate with respect to said first shroud plate sufficiently to clamp said wire supply securely against relative bodily movement therebetween.

2. Means for supporting a supply of relatively heavy coiled wire for dispensing as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that said core means comprises a circularly spaced series of pin elements fixed on said first shroud plate with an extending disposition parallel to the'axis of said hub portion.

3. Means for supporting a supply of relatively heavy coiled wire for dispensing as defined in claim 2 and further characterized in that said second shroud plate is apertured for disposition freely on said pin elements, and

in that said clamping means is formed by nut members engaging threaded extending end portions of at least some of said pin elements.

4. Means for supporting a supply of relatively heavy coiled wire for dispensing as defined in claim 1 and further characterized in that a dolly base is provided including a spindle carried thereby on which said hub portion is rotatably disposed;

5. In a fastener forming and inserting machine adapted for forming fasteners from a continuous length of relatively heavy wire and inserting said fasteners in material to be secured, means for supporting a supply of heavy coiled wire for delivery to said machine, said supporting means comprising a mobile dolly base, means for latching said dolly base releasably at said machine for delivery positioning of the wire supply thereon while maintaining said dolly base separable so that it may be moved away from the machine for loading of a new Wire supply, a reel structure rotatably mounted on said dolly base for carrying said wire supply thereon, said reel structure having a first portion formed for carrying said Wire supply centrally and affording lateral support at one side thereof, a second removable portion for alfording opposing lateral support at the other side thereof, said removable second portion allowing said new wire supply loading, and clamping means for positioning said second portion on said first portion, said clamping means cooperating with said first portion at a plurality of spaced positions for tightening said second portion thereon to clamp a wire supply securely against relative bodily shifting on said reel structure.

6. In a fastener forming and inserting machine, the structure defined in claim 5 and further characterized in that said dolly base additionally carries a pivoted arm fitted with a guide element through which wire from said reel structure may be trained, in that said machine incorporates feeding means acting intermittently to withdraw wire from said reel structure through said guide element, and in that said pivoted arm is yieldably biased against the wire withdrawing pull exerted intermittently by said feeding means to absorb the shock of the intermittent feed of said relatively heavy Wire.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 554,470 2/1896 Weatherwax 242103 960,016 5/1910 Horton 242128 X 1,036,644 8/1912 Kilmer et al. 242118.6 1,602,450 10/ 1926 Pritchard 24286.5

1,984,738 12/1934 Gleason 24277.2 X 2,463,192 3/1949 Mackey et al. 242-l15 2,609,162 9/1952 Howsam 242-118.6

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner.

MERVIN STEIN, Examiner.

N. L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner. 

1. MEANS FOR SUPPORTING A SUPPLY OF RELATIVELY HEAVY COILED WIRE FOR DISPENSING, SAID MEANS COMPRISING A FIRST SHROUD PLATE FOR SUPPORTING SAID COILED WIRE SUPPLY SIDEWISE, SAID SHROUD PLATE BEING FITTED WITH A HUB PORTION AT WHICH IT MAY BE MOUNTED FOR ROTATION AND HAVING CORE MEANS ARRANGED THEREON FOR SUPPORTING SAID WIRE SUPPLY CONCENTRICALLY ABOUT SAID HUB PORTION, A SECOND SHROUD PLATE FOR OPPOSING SIDEWISE SUPPORT OF SAID WIRE SUPPLY, AND CLAMPING MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID CORE MEANS AT A PLURALTIY OF SPACED LOCATIONS FOR POSITIONING SAID SECOND SHROUD PLATE ON SAID CORE MEANS TO PROVIDE SAID OPPOSING SIDEWISE SUPPORT AND FOR TIGHTENING SAID SECOND SHROUD PLATE WITH RESPECT TO SAID FIRST SHROUD PLATE SUFFICIENTLY TO CLAMP SAID WIRE SUPPLY SECURELY AGAINST RELATIVE BODILY MOVEMENT THEREBETWEEN. 